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I’d never see Dad once that happened—but I rarely saw him as it was. And bye-bye stipend. I had no doubt she’d figure out some loophole to keep from bestowing it to me.
“I expect you to show up tomorrow morning. You still have two weeks left—after what you pulled last night, you owe me.”
That was something no one wanted to hear, not where Stina Malus was concerned. The woman held grudges like the dying clung to life.
She said nothing about the way Pris had attacked me the night before, about the way she’d attempted to humiliate me enough to send me home. Maybe she didn’t know it had happened.
She probably didn’t care.
I so wanted to call it. Two weeks was another paycheck. I could use that time to find a new job.
My plan had been to hit the road as soon as New Year’s was over, to head into New York and job hunt there as I applied for school.
But after last night with Hawk, the shape of my dreams began to shift. I had friends, cousins, an awesome grandma here in Westville—but none of them had been incentive enough to get me to stay before.
Why, then, did one night with Hawk Danielson make me want to change my plans and stick it out?
I knew exactly why.
Hawk was different from anyone I’d ever known. I’d felt safe, heard, and adored last night. He was the assurance of a grounded plane, and he was breaking awaythe wall I’d assembled around my heart one piece at a time.
The more he managed to fracture within me, the more I wanted him to finish the job.
“Well?” Stina prodded.
I had a few thousand dollars set aside for the move. I could live off of that until I found new work. Hawk was right—just because I was in Westville didn’t mean I had to have anything to do with this woman any longer.
The way forward was suddenly clear.
“I’m done, Stina. I’m not coming back.”
“You selfish brat. Just like that? You’re going to leave me shorthanded again?”
Her rancorous tone was jostling. The bright murals, the children, the staff, everything slammed back into place.
“I won’t talk to you if you’re going to insult me,” I said, ending the call.
Conflicted and emotional, I was shaking in my skin.
Worry nudged its way into my ribs as this and other conversations knocked back through me.
You owe me.
I waved it off, refusing to let the worry settle. I wouldn’t focus on that. I was having the most amazing Christmas of my life, and it was time I returned to it.
Stina had it all wrong. I didn’t owe her anything.
I owed this to myself.
For too long, I’d been so caught up in the integrity I owed to others, to my mom’s memory—she would have wanted me to be reliable and stick things out—to my dad’s expectations—to show Stina some decency since he was married to her.
But I forgot about the integrity I owed to myself.
Stina and Pris treated me like dirt. I was done allowing it to happen any longer.
Hawk had the bravado and charm of a model, and he was watching me. He stood with an elbow resting on the counter and a gift in the other hand.
My heart gave a little flip. Was anyone allowed to be this gorgeous?
